Search Engine Optimization (SEO) doesn’t get talked about a whole lot on this blog, but that doesn’t mean it’s not essential to your small business marketing strategy. Having a solid SEO strategy is still critical to driving traffic to your small business website. With that said, this post is about making sure that your social media profiles are also optimized for search. Many industry folks refer to this process as Social Media Optimization.

The idea for this post actually came when I posted the following question on Twitter, “Working on new posts for the Catalyst Marketers blog, does anyone have topics they’d like me to explore?” I received the following response, which is the basis for this post, “@EnviroBooty I have heard from Social Media Magic that your profile itself should be rich in your pertinent keywords. If that’s true, just wondered why”. So thanks to Shane Shirley-Smith of Orlando, Florida for providing us with a great topic for the Catalyst Marketers blog.

For those of you who are still learning about Search Engine Optimization, check out an earlier post from us on how to Use Google Adwords: Keyword Tool to Find Keywords for Your Small Business Website.

One you have your list of keywords for your small business, it’s critical that you use them in your social media profiles, just as you would in your website. If one of your keywords is, “social media marketing agency Doylestown PA”, then be sure that in your Facebook Fan Page profile that you use the following sentence, “We are the leading Social Media Marketing Agency in Doylestown, PA“.

Don’t simply stop at adding keywords to your Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, & LinkedIn profiles, use those keywords in your daily online conversations. When you respond to comments on Yelp, try to add a keyword where it makes sense (don’t go overboard). When tweeting, use your small business keywords. If you make a wall comment on your small business Facebook Fan Page, use your keywords. All of these efforts will pay off in moving all of your online business profiles up in the search ranks.

Website SEO has always been a part of your e-Marketing strategies, but now, Social Media SEO should get some attention as well. You’ll be happy you made the effort when two or three of your sites start ranking on Google page 1 or 2 for your small business keywords.